When I was growing up, Disney's TaleSpin was just something that came on the TV while I was wearing my pajamas. Thinking back on things, I played witness to a show completely out of its mind.

It all comes down to the premise. Here's how the show worked.

There was Baloo, the cartoon bear from The Jungle Book, flying a twin-engine float plane against air pirates. Why air pirates? Because in the world of TaleSpin, the whole world was air- and sea-based, and everyone flew. Of course there were gonna be scimitar-wielding air pirates.

Baloo did not live in the jungle this time, but in a trading city with a single entrance through a passage between giant cliffs.

The mechanics of how the show worked were just as nutty. Kids were surfing on clouds and, as you can from the opening sequence, pineapples are more effective weapons than guns.

People often make ties between the show and Miyazaki's later Porko Rosso, which was also awesome and also involved animals flying sea planes. You can also look at Tales of the Gold Monkey for inspiration, which was something like Raiders of the Lost Ark: The TV Show.

I was reminded of all of this by friend of Jalopnik Sam Smith, who posted this on Facebook today, and got most of the car-writing intelligentsia keyed in on the nostalgia.

If you want to get into the show, Ben Wojdyla of PopMech recommends the four-episode "Plunder and Lightning" series.